The New York Times piece on Michael Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center and arts management guru and turn-around artist, contains some contrarian views:
Having worked for a brief time for Mr. Kaiser at the Kansas City Ballet, one of his first turn-around "success" stories, I question selling people the idea that arts organizations can be turned around in short order, especially organizations that have been mired in mismanagement and substandard artistic practice for a long time. My experience with turnarounds is that they are painstakingly slow and require difficult decisions and artful negotiations. And since so much of an organization's success requires financial stabilization, it can be slow going to get folks to jump on the civic bandwagon in time to facilitate a turnaround.
Russell Willis Taylor, the president and chief executive of National Arts Strategies, which runs leadership seminars for arts executives, said that she respected Mr. Kaiser but found his approach somewhat one-dimensional.
“Just putting on shows and just putting money into marketing isn’t going to do it,” she said. “The biggest problem the arts face is not financial. It’s, ‘Why do they matter?’ ”
Let's face it. All organizations want a quick fix, a white knight, a silver bullet, or a proven formula. All of these are mythologies governing boards buy into so they don't have to do the hard and thoughtful work of managing an organization in an operating environment where supply far outpaces demand.
